rio by the sea-o

When Gaspar de Lemos sailed into Rio de Janeiro's harbor in 1502, he thought he had discovered the mouth of a large river. When I sailed into the same harbor 500 years later, I thought I had discovered a land without sun.




What is it with cloud cover in Brazil? It is their fall, but this is the tropics. There are views to be seen. I had to choose between Sugarloaf Mountain and the statue of Christ the Redeemer -- due to time constraints in port. I chose the statue because the view is known around the world as being the very essence of Rio. After all, when we arrived, I could see it from my cabin's balcony. There might be no sun, but there would be a view. (You can barely see the statue on the top of the highest peak.)




After taking a tour bus, a train, an elevator, and walking several flights of stairs, I arrived at the following marvelous view of Rio.




Hardly what I had imagined while reading tour books in my hot tub in Salem.


OK, I thought. There must be some lemonade to be made here. Just as I turned around, some of the clouds parted and I was able to get this shot. A few of my fundamentalist friends will probably find it a bit disconcerting. You can find out why in Revelation.




There is something about inclement weather that makes tourists look even more like tourists. This is the English-speaking group. I wondered how the Brazilians would look on a day like this. But most of them were wisely in their beds.





I thought I would throw in a photograph of the train station at the top of the mountain. I like the curves and the green and yellow Brazil motif. The photograph interests me.




On our way back to the ship, we were scheduled to stop at the beach. We did. We may as well gave stopped at Coney Island. No self-respecting carioca was going to be at the beach on a day like this. (The fellow with the cast on his arm is one of our table mates.)

The only locals at the beach appeared to be these workmen --

And this lone man striking what had to be one of the most melancholy sights of the day.

When I got back to my cabin, the rain stopped. There was no parting of clouds, but when I walked out onto my cabin balcony, this was the sight that greeted me.

Well, I did get to see the statue and the city -- if not together.

Next stop: Salvador.